29/12/2025
Who's been indulging themselves for the last few days (weeks 🫢)? Who thinks they've put on weight? Have you actually checked? The number on the scales isn't really indicative of weight gain as it's a tiny bit of fat plus, glycogen and water. It's a scentific fact, that if you overeat, your body will store the excess glucose, first as glycogen and then as fat.
Glycogen is the body's store of concentrated glucose. Glycogen is stored in the muscles, liver, brain, kidneys and finally fat cells. Your muscles, by far, store the biggest amount and can hold up to 500g of glycogen.
Now here's the good news for people looking to reduce their weight.
For every gram of Glycogen your body stores, it stores 3-4 grams of water alongside. That means that if you put on 2.5lb of weight over Christmas, you don't need to burn through 2.5lb of calories to get back on track. You only need to burn through around half a pound because as you use up the stored glycogen, the water is released and goes down the toilet.
So, if you're on a weight loss journey and the scales are not being kind, don't despair, or throw in the towel, because whatever you have put on will magically disappear over the next few days, (provided you're not still overeating).
If you've learned something today, why not ask to join our new group, "Your Body Is Not Broken". It's a been set up by some of the leaders at Essens, and is a resource where we share insights, such as this, along with encouragement, testimonials, knowledge, recipes and much more, to support you on your body confidence journey.
So if you don't want to go it alone in 2026, and want to learn how to deal with peri-menopause, get your gut health on track, or lose weight, just ask me to be added. 💜
